If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

I harvested the first tomatoes from my indoor garden today. The outdoor garden has been running late but greens are finally ready. Fresh garden salad pending to go with the meat loaves that I made to keep hubby supplied for a time. Meat loaf is his favorite food. Pictured below are the fruits of my labor.

In 57 years I have never managed to make a good meatloaf. They are always dry, and crumble. I can't bring myself to put in as much fat as they seem to need.

Willing to share your recipe? (I realise these can be sacred, and don't want to push.)

I always put in a couple of eggs and make sure the mixture is a bit 'sloppy'. I also pour bbq sauce on the top (much like UTR has put a tomato glaze). Apart from that, I don't use a recipe, just chuck in what I can find.

Bake for 1 hour. Remove pan and tip one corner gently to drain off the fat and accumulated liquids. Back into the oven for another 10-15 minutes. Remove from oven, drain any extra liquid and let stand for a few minutes before serving as this helps the loaf retain it's shape. Easy to serve as you just lift it out of the pan with the parchment paper.

In 57 years I have never managed to make a good meatloaf. They are always dry, and crumble. I can't bring myself to put in as much fat as they seem to need.

Willing to share your recipe? (I realise these can be sacred, and don't want to push.)

I always put in a couple of eggs and make sure the mixture is a bit 'sloppy'. I also pour bbq sauce on the top (much like UTR has put a tomato glaze). Apart from that, I don't use a recipe, just chuck in what I can find.

As long as one keeps certain proportions within reasonable constraints, meatloaf is very forgiving, for sure. One time I found that we had run out of ketchup and I faked it with a combination of plum sauce and chicken & rib BBQ sauce. Hubby wolfed it down as always.

After stewing most of the bell peppers and onions should have been disintegrated so you have a brown liquid with chunks of meat and some remaining bits of the shallots. In my considerable opinion the shallot bits are the best part.

Taste. At this point check for salt, add when necessary. Bind the remaining liquid with corn starch till gloopy.

I used to make something very similar to this except I used a half cup of ketchup in lieu of the diced tomatoes. Spike, you can fine tune the moisture level with the oats.

I noticed you didn't mention the mashed potatoes. An oversight, I'm sure. You can make a good tomato gravy simply from a can of tomato soup with a little deli mustard and steak sauce. Just keep stirring and tasting until it has the appropriate zip to it.

I have pretty much mastered the art of oven roasting whole bell peppers after a few attempts and boy, is that the easy way to cook those puppies. I washed and dried six of them today, 3 red, 2 yellow and 1 orange. I pre-heated my propane oven to 425F while I prepared a baking sheet by lining it with parchment paper and trimming the stems flush so that each pepper had it's former blossom end pointed upward. I misted them with olive oil with a pump atomizer and sprinkled lightly with garlic powder and into the hot oven.

After 10 minutes, I turned the pan. After another 10 minutes, I laid each pepper on it's side for seven minutes, then turned them over to do the second side for a final seven minutes. They were nicely blistered and lightly blackened. After they had cooled about 10 minutes, I split each one, removed the seeds and remaining stem and peeled the skins off. I had to sample them of course, along with some battered cod and homemade tartar sauce.

Deee-lightful!!!

The rest of the peeled peppers are in the fridge and some will go into a hummus and others will be gobbled down on buttered toast of home-made light rye bread. So simple and so yummiferous. The following picture is just grabbed from the web but it gives you at least a tantalizing hint of the possibilities.